Legal Briefs
Page 57
“I’ll take Sachs,” Adam broke in, sounding like he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Adam, you have enough of your own cases to handle. I’m not going to let you take on extra work because I’m on some personal crusade. I picked this fight with both of them. I can take them both.”
I wasn’t going to drag Adam into this with me. He had enough work of his own to worry about. Besides, I could fight my own battles. I always had. I glanced up at Jacob who was allowing his redhead to fawn all over him. Charming.
“You shouldn’t have to take them both,” Adam said in a tone of voice that made me look back at him. He was staring at me intently. “You’re not alone anymore, Lily,” he said quietly in a way that made me feel like he could see into my soul. “I’m with you and I’ve got your back. It will give me great pleasure to take that arrogant son of a bitch down for you, and then you can concentrate on doing what you have to do.”
Slowly I felt myself smile, and I felt tears prick at my eyes again. Jesus, I was becoming a regular freaking waterworks. I don’t think I’d cried as much in the past two years as I had in the past two weeks.
“Okay,” I nodded and bit my lip, digging my nails into my palms to hold it together. “We’ll go over strategy on Sunday,” I said, my voice quavering a little. “The argument is Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving. Hopefully, we’ll have a court victory to be thankful for.” I paused and collected myself. “And thank you, Adam. I love you,” I added in a whisper.
“I love you too,” he mouthed back with a smile and pulled me into a tight hug.
I hugged him back, and I didn’t care who saw. Neither one of us did, obviously. I had a feeling that our friends wouldn’t tease us about this one anyway. I heard Braden clear his throat and start discussing what everyone should bring the next day, and Adam and I let go of each other, kept calm and carried on.
Chapter Thirty
The next evening our friends gathered in my, our, apartment an hour before the party was supposed to start. It seemed that we were ready. We had alcohol. We had chips. We had pretzels, hummus and crudités. All we needed was the nuts.
It turned out we wouldn’t have to break in Dan McGuire’s apartment after all. When I notified the landlord that I was having a locksmith come by, he said he would be putting in an order for Dan McGuire’s locks too, since he seemed to have skipped out. He asked if I could hold onto the new keys until he picked them up. I still had them. My landlord wasn’t really quick to do anything.
Jess was planning to open the door a crack while Cam and Mark acted as her lookouts. They assured me that they had been on missions for Gabrielle before and nothing fazed them. Besides, it seemed better that Adam, Braden and I, being prosecutors, and Gabrielle, being married to a prosecutor, remain uninvolved. Bruce just felt that he could be of more use staying behind and taste testing the alcohol.
We decided that it was ‘go time’ and the three brave defense lawyers quietly went out my apartment door with the key and I went to the peephole to watch and give updates to those of us left behind. Well, those of us besides Bruce, who didn’t really care. He was in the kitchen with the booze making his fruity cocktails.
“Cam is staying by Jess, looking in all directions, while Mark is positioning himself by the stairs,” I reported. “Okay, she’s at the door, still no sign of anyone. She’s got the key in the lock and it’s open! She’s leaving it open about two inches. Wait, Mark is signaling someone is coming. They’re headed back!” I opened the door and the three of them came barreling back in.
“I think that U. Hu is coming up the stairs,” Mark said. “I saw somebody dressed in black headed this way.” I went back to the peephole and saw that, sure enough, there was U. Hu.
“It is him,” I announced to everyone. Everyone was sitting down somewhere, except for Adam, who was right beside me. “He’s walking toward his apartment. He’s pausing and looking around. He’s stealing the clock from the hallway and putting it in a bag.”
“What?” Adam broke in.
“He’s stealing the clock from the hallway. Wait, he has another one in the bag. He’s exchanging that one for the one he took. They look the same.”
“He stole the clock from the hallway and replaced it with a duplicate clock?” Bruce asked, finally sounding interested. Maybe he thought it involved decorating.
“People do weird shit, honey,” Jess assured him. “Trust us. We work in the criminal justice system.”
“He sees McGuire’s door open!” I announced excitedly.
“Let me in there,” Adam ordered, nudging me out of my position.
“Hey, I wanted to look,” I complained, as he managed to elbow me aside.
“You’ve been looking. It’s my turn,” he replied, eye fixed to my door.
“It’s my peephole.”
“I thought I had open access to your peephole.”
“This is just like when you used to hog tetherball during recess.”
“That was sixth grade. You can let it go now,” he answered without moving away from his stolen vantage point. “If it matters, though, I promise to make it up to you by paying lots of attention to your peephole later.” I heard Mark snort with laughter and I felt my face get hot.
“Well? What’s he doing?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“He’s looking around and tiptoeing to the door.”
“So, he must know McGuire’s not in there!” Gab added enthusiastically. “And his name means Fox in Chinese. My plan worked!” She looked so proud.
“Yeah, he’s going in all right,” Adam continued. “You may have finally come up with a nutty idea that actually worked, Gabrielle. What do you know?” He looked like he was about to step back when something else caught his eye. “Hey wait, the guy next door, Nardo, just walked out of his apartment. He looks like he’s headed toward the stairs… but he sees the door! He’s stopping, looking around, stalking quietly over …”
“What?” Gab asked, sounding confused. “He doesn’t think McGuire’s there either?”
“And Reynard is French for Fox,” Jess, the former French major reminded us.
“He’s at the door, and he’s going in!”
“With Who Me in there?” Cam asked.
“U. Hu,” I corrected.
“Adam, you have enough of your own cases to handle. I’m not going to let you take on extra work because I’m on some personal crusade. I picked this fight with both of them. I can take them both.”
I wasn’t going to drag Adam into this with me. He had enough work of his own to worry about. Besides, I could fight my own battles. I always had. I glanced up at Jacob who was allowing his redhead to fawn all over him. Charming.
“You shouldn’t have to take them both,” Adam said in a tone of voice that made me look back at him. He was staring at me intently. “You’re not alone anymore, Lily,” he said quietly in a way that made me feel like he could see into my soul. “I’m with you and I’ve got your back. It will give me great pleasure to take that arrogant son of a bitch down for you, and then you can concentrate on doing what you have to do.”
Slowly I felt myself smile, and I felt tears prick at my eyes again. Jesus, I was becoming a regular freaking waterworks. I don’t think I’d cried as much in the past two years as I had in the past two weeks.
“Okay,” I nodded and bit my lip, digging my nails into my palms to hold it together. “We’ll go over strategy on Sunday,” I said, my voice quavering a little. “The argument is Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving. Hopefully, we’ll have a court victory to be thankful for.” I paused and collected myself. “And thank you, Adam. I love you,” I added in a whisper.
“I love you too,” he mouthed back with a smile and pulled me into a tight hug.
I hugged him back, and I didn’t care who saw. Neither one of us did, obviously. I had a feeling that our friends wouldn’t tease us about this one anyway. I heard Braden clear his throat and start discussing what everyone should bring the next day, and Adam and I let go of each other, kept calm and carried on.
Chapter Thirty
The next evening our friends gathered in my, our, apartment an hour before the party was supposed to start. It seemed that we were ready. We had alcohol. We had chips. We had pretzels, hummus and crudités. All we needed was the nuts.
It turned out we wouldn’t have to break in Dan McGuire’s apartment after all. When I notified the landlord that I was having a locksmith come by, he said he would be putting in an order for Dan McGuire’s locks too, since he seemed to have skipped out. He asked if I could hold onto the new keys until he picked them up. I still had them. My landlord wasn’t really quick to do anything.
Jess was planning to open the door a crack while Cam and Mark acted as her lookouts. They assured me that they had been on missions for Gabrielle before and nothing fazed them. Besides, it seemed better that Adam, Braden and I, being prosecutors, and Gabrielle, being married to a prosecutor, remain uninvolved. Bruce just felt that he could be of more use staying behind and taste testing the alcohol.
We decided that it was ‘go time’ and the three brave defense lawyers quietly went out my apartment door with the key and I went to the peephole to watch and give updates to those of us left behind. Well, those of us besides Bruce, who didn’t really care. He was in the kitchen with the booze making his fruity cocktails.
“Cam is staying by Jess, looking in all directions, while Mark is positioning himself by the stairs,” I reported. “Okay, she’s at the door, still no sign of anyone. She’s got the key in the lock and it’s open! She’s leaving it open about two inches. Wait, Mark is signaling someone is coming. They’re headed back!” I opened the door and the three of them came barreling back in.
“I think that U. Hu is coming up the stairs,” Mark said. “I saw somebody dressed in black headed this way.” I went back to the peephole and saw that, sure enough, there was U. Hu.
“It is him,” I announced to everyone. Everyone was sitting down somewhere, except for Adam, who was right beside me. “He’s walking toward his apartment. He’s pausing and looking around. He’s stealing the clock from the hallway and putting it in a bag.”
“What?” Adam broke in.
“He’s stealing the clock from the hallway. Wait, he has another one in the bag. He’s exchanging that one for the one he took. They look the same.”
“He stole the clock from the hallway and replaced it with a duplicate clock?” Bruce asked, finally sounding interested. Maybe he thought it involved decorating.
“People do weird shit, honey,” Jess assured him. “Trust us. We work in the criminal justice system.”
“He sees McGuire’s door open!” I announced excitedly.
“Let me in there,” Adam ordered, nudging me out of my position.
“Hey, I wanted to look,” I complained, as he managed to elbow me aside.
“You’ve been looking. It’s my turn,” he replied, eye fixed to my door.
“It’s my peephole.”
“I thought I had open access to your peephole.”
“This is just like when you used to hog tetherball during recess.”
“That was sixth grade. You can let it go now,” he answered without moving away from his stolen vantage point. “If it matters, though, I promise to make it up to you by paying lots of attention to your peephole later.” I heard Mark snort with laughter and I felt my face get hot.
“Well? What’s he doing?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“He’s looking around and tiptoeing to the door.”
“So, he must know McGuire’s not in there!” Gab added enthusiastically. “And his name means Fox in Chinese. My plan worked!” She looked so proud.
“Yeah, he’s going in all right,” Adam continued. “You may have finally come up with a nutty idea that actually worked, Gabrielle. What do you know?” He looked like he was about to step back when something else caught his eye. “Hey wait, the guy next door, Nardo, just walked out of his apartment. He looks like he’s headed toward the stairs… but he sees the door! He’s stopping, looking around, stalking quietly over …”
“What?” Gab asked, sounding confused. “He doesn’t think McGuire’s there either?”
“And Reynard is French for Fox,” Jess, the former French major reminded us.
“He’s at the door, and he’s going in!”
“With Who Me in there?” Cam asked.
“U. Hu,” I corrected.
